


The Second Chance

by Warden_Click



Category: Original Work
Genre: Escape Rooms, Female Protagonist, I threw some science out the window, I'm Bad At Summaries, Kidnapping, More Tags: Coming soon, Mystery, POV First Person, implied drugging
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 16:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12391440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warden_Click/pseuds/Warden_Click
Summary: While waiting for a blind date, a young woman suddenly finds herself aboard The Second Chance. Who are these people? Why did they decide to kidnap her? Just what is The Second Chance, anyway?And how will she escape when she's stuck at the bottom of the ocean?





	The Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> If you just so happened to stumble upon this, welcome! The Second Chance is something I worked on for my creative writing class. I really wanted to do more with it, so I decided to put it on AO3. Constructive criticism is welcome!

 

When I came to, oblivion threatened to drag me back down again. My weak limbs felt as heavy as cinder blocks. Groggy eyes recoiled in pain as soon as they sensed light touching them. Being chopped in half sounded downright preferable to the splitting headache I found myself nursing. But even these familiar pains did little to clear the thick fog in my muddled mind. For a moment, I thought I was home. After all, I usually felt like this after a long night of working. Maybe I could stay in bed a little longer…

 

But I was not in bed. I was lying face-first on a cold, hard floor.

 

 _My_ bedroom was _carpeted_.

 

_This is not my room._

 

As soon the realization struck me, the heavy fog in my brain dissipated somewhat. My limbs were still weighed down by drowsiness, but I forced myself to stand anyway. _Slowly_ , of course. I didn’t want to risk passing out _again_. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, my hands came across several large marks impressed onto my face. What the Hell? Judging by touch alone, they were pretty deep. Feeling around, I found two on my upper cheeks, a couple more on my forehead, and one more on my left cheek. They all seemed to be roughly the same diagonal shape. Luckily, I didn’t feel any blood or scabs on them during my investigation, meaning the mysterious marks were most likely benign.

My worries quelled to a manageable level, so I investigated the room proper.

The first thing to grab my attention was the door. It may have been shaped like a regular door, but it _really_  belonged in a bomb shelter. The door was completely clad in thick, heavy metal. At first, I thought it was rusted all over, but the door’s smooth texture told me that it was only painted that way. Much to my distress, the door had no handle of any kind. Instead, just to its left was a small wall panel littered with buttons. They were organized in rainbow order, and there were five differently shaped buttons for each color. I groaned.

 

_Am I in one of those escape rooms? With this kind of headache? You’ve got to be kidding me!_

It was time to get puzzle solving…

 

Turning away from the door, I continued my investigation. I swear, whoever designed this place must have adored juxtaposition. Machinery and heavy lab equipment shared the same space as plush seating and trendy wall art. Even the floor and walls seemed to be at odds with each other.

The floor was made of a cold, shiny gray metal and textured with raised diagonal slashes. Wait, _diagonal_ slashes? Well, that explained where the marks on my face came from. Anyway, I’d seen this material used before, but only for utilitarian purposes. Factories, no-slip steps, garages...Much like the machinery and lab equipment, this flooring was all business.

The _walls_ , however, embraced the opposite. Painted a friendly turquoise, they managed to bring a smile to my face. “Hello there!” They greeted. Not _literally_ , obviously, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if they started talking. I tried tapping the walls, but I found no hidden compartments. However, I _did_ hear a heavy _thunk_ every time I did so.

What the walls themselves lacked in variety, the art made up for. There were only three paintings, but each one was an explosion of color. The one closest to me was only about as big as a sheet of paper. It had a pure white background. Three brightly colored circles -red, yellow, and blue- joined in the middle. Where they intersected, new colors came to be.The second and third paintings did pretty much the same thing, but with numbers and shapes, respectively. Even in my tired state, I could tell that these had to do with the button panel.

 

Strangest of all, however, was the hatch on the left wall. It was only a little larger than a manhole cover, and made of bronze. No matter how hard I tried, I could not open it with my bare hands. The hatch felt surprisingly warm, for a metal cover. Putting my ear against it, I could hear the dull sound of something flowing. But what? I’d just have to find out.

Right now, though, I had a puzzle to solve. After taking another good look at the “wall art,” I walked over to the button panel next to the door.

_Red Square, Circle 2, Yellow 5…_

As soon as I pushed the last button (Star Violet), the wall panel slammed shut, nearly taking out my hand. To my dismay, however, the door remained shut…

 

_Click!_

 

What was that? Turning around, I spotted the now-open hatch. Was that my ticket out of here? With nothing to lose (except maybe my life), I tried to crawl inside.

Now, imagine my disappointment when I found nothing but a window. So much for my ticket out of here. I suppose I could have smashed the window open... _if_ I had a sledgehammer...

 

...and _gills_.

 

Yes, _gills_. Because the _window_ was **underwater**. At first, I was utterly baffled. I could not _believe_ that this spacious room was _under the sea_. It was only when I watched a large, dull gray fish swim by that it finally sunk in.

 _What the freaking… What kind of crazy-ass place_ **_is_ ** _this?!_

 

Dazed, I crawled out of the hatch. What did I do to deserve _this_?! There was no way I was in a submarine. The room was just too spacious. No, this...this  _had_ to be an aquarium. One that barely had any fish...and made its patrons solve puzzles...and  _kidnap_ _ped_ people.

Yeah, that wasn't going to cut it. But if those weren't the answers...

 

A loud buzz snapped me out of my stupor. The noise seemed to come from the very walls. An emotionless voice spoke up.

 

“Welcome aboard  _The Second Chance_. You have successfully completed the first challenge within the time limit. The door will open shortly.”

And just like that, the “rusty” door swung open, revealing an orange-and-cream colored hallway.

 

Okay, I _know_ I said I wouldn’t be surprised if the walls started talking, but let’s face it; there’s no way to prepare for that sort of thing.

 

I just sat in the middle of the room for a few seconds, processing what I just heard. Despite the robotic tone, the voice seemed...human? It was definitely a woman’s, that much I knew, but why? Why was any of this happening to _me_? One second, I’d been waiting for a blind date, but the next, I woke up _here_. Had I been set up?

My earlier tiredness was long gone. I saw before me one choice; go through the hallway.

 

With only a few uncertain steps, I entered _The Second Chance_.


End file.
